Miniaturization and function integration have become prevailing trends for information apparatus nowadays. This integration trend has also affected business machines used in the office environment such as printers, copiers, FAX machines, scanners, and the like. They are gradually being combined to become Multi-Function Peripherals (MFP) that provide multiple functions to perform the tasks of copying, printing, facsimile and scanning.
The structure and functional integration of the MFP not only aims at combining and rearranging the physical elements, under the requirement of miniaturization, to combine and simplify similar functions also becomes necessary. For instance, the control chips that once controlled single functional modules of copying, printing, facsimile and scanning are now being expanded to simultaneously cover the CPU module, printing control module, scanning control module, Facsimile compression and decompression module, image compression and decompression module, memory control module, and even the LCD panel control module. The advance of technology has significant impact on this functional integration.
On the rearrangement of physical structure, the present MFPs on the market, especially the models that combine flat-top scanning modules and inkjet printing modules, mostly have the scanning module located above the printing module. The scanning module occupies a rectangular space (larger than a sheet of A4 paper). It is partly overlapped with the paper exit chute located below the printing module (or paper feeding cartridge) to reduce the size of the whole device.
The overlapping arrangement mentioned above usually is accomplished by having the longitudinal axis of the scan platform substantially parallel with the moving path of the ink cartridge of the inkjet printing module to form a cross configuration. Namely, the longitudinal axis of the scan platform is substantially normal to the paper conveying path of the casing. The entire moving path of the inkjet printing module is covered by the scan platform. Practical examples can be found in the All-in-One series products of HP Co., including product models PSC 750, PSC 950, PSC 2110 and PSC 2210; MULTIPASS series products of CANON Co., including F20, F30, F60 and F80; models X73, X75, X83, X85 and X5150 of LEXMARK Co.; or model MF C950 of BROTHER Co. However, such a configuration layout creates problems for ink cartridge replacement in actual use, notably:                1. The interior space is wasted and the size of the complete device increases. Take model X83 of LEXMARK Co. for example. It has an upright paper feeding chute on the back side of the casing. The paper exit chute has an L-shaped paper conveying path. As there is no paper feeding cartridge below the paper exit chute, theoretically, the overall height of the device can be reduced. However, in fact this is not the case. This is caused by the design of the ink cartridge replacement function. The case lid at the front side has to be opened to allow a user's hand to access the interior of the device to remove the ink cartridge. As one's hand has to operate in a closed casing, a sufficient space should be allocated for such a purpose. Naturally, waste of space occurs.        2. Replacement of the ink cartridge is difficult. Take the same model X83 of LEXMARK Co. as an example. The user's vision is blocked by his or her hand during ink cartridge replacement operations. Thus operation accuracy suffers. This problem also occurs in other types of ink cartridge replacement designs such as with model PSC 950 of HP Co. It that model, the entire scan platform must be lifted toward the back side of the machine. As almost all of the elements of the entire scanning module are located on the scan platform, the platform is quite large and heavy. The lifting operation is thus inconvenient.        